On Thursday, Nov. 7, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that the Government will legislate a social media ban for children in Australia under 16. This is the highest age limit set so far by any country.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese said in a press conference attended by Reuters.
The “harm” he was referring to includes negative body image content, radical misogynistic content, and the physical and mental health implications of too much screen time — despite studies showing social media can have both positive and negative mental health impacts.
The measures are set to impact social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, X, and YouTube. According to Reuters, a set of measures relating to child internet safety could become law in Australia by late 2025.
What are Australia’s proposed social media measures?
The age-verification methods Australia is testing include biometrics and government identification. Other proposals, which Reuters describes as world-first, include no exemption via parental consent and no exemption for pre-existing accounts.
“The onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access,” Albanese added. “The onus won’t be on parents or young people.”
Furthermore, Albanese said that legislation will be introduced in Australian parliament before the end of the year. The laws themselves will come into effect 12 months later.
However, not everyone is convinced by these legal measures. The Digital Industry Group Incorporated (DIGI), a public body of which all the Big Tech companies are members, told Reuters that these regulations wouldn’t solve any problems.
Instead, they claimed it could encourage young people to explore less regulated areas of the internet to evade the ban.
“Keeping young people safe online is a top priority … but the proposed ban for teenagers to access digital platforms is a 20th Century response to 21st Century challenges,” DIGI Managing Director Sunita Bose said in a statement to Reuters.
“Rather than blocking access through bans, we need to take a balanced approach to create age-appropriate spaces, build digital literacy, and protect young people from online harm.”
